Crookedstar's Promise (Tragic Rewrite)
by Burrfrost
Summary: Some details are changed in the Warriors Super Edition, Crookedstar's Promise by Erin Hunter. I do not own Warriors or Crookedstar's Promise. Anyway, far more cats die in this story. ENJOY, CRY AND REVIEW! Or, ECR! (The reason it says Parody for the category is because it's a rewrite)


**Crookedstar's Promise**

Tragic Rewrite

Prologue

_A fierce, howling wind rattled the _willow trees and tore the trembling reeds from their soaking wet beds.

"Hailstar!"

Thick gray storm clouds swirled across the night-black sky. Freezing rain battered relentlessly at the tightly woven dens where the frightened RiverClan warriors had been previously sheltering.

"Hailstar!"

The RiverClan leader flattened his ears against his head as he heard his mate's terrified cry sound out from somewhere in the storm. He dug his sharp claws into the thick swirl of the mud, trying to steady himself against the dark water that crashed and waved around his legs. The river had broken its banks and had begun streaming into the camp. It had shocked the warriors of RiverClan deeply. Hailstar whipped his head around, searching desperately in the shadows of the camp.

"Hailstar!" Echomist's shriek sounded scared beyond reasoning. Her wail was muffled by the kit that swung, mewling in fear, in her jaws. Another frightened kit clung to her quivering back. She was staring after the damp nest of twigs that was spinning away from her on the ice-cold floodwater. Another kit was struggling to hold on to it as the tiny twigs started to get washed away by the flooding river like a strong breeze blowing away fallen leaves.

Hailstar plunged for the nest to grab the terrified kit, but the fierce current dragged the kit away, sending it mewling, underwater. Its cries were muffled as the water lapped its muzzle and it vanished under the swirling tide.

"Volekit!" Hailstar wailed, diving into the dark water. His fur clouded around him as he kicked out his forepaws, straightening his tail like a twig to keep him balanced. He searched for Volekit, and found his son thrashing his tiny limbs as the underwater current swept him away from Hailstar's grasp. Hailstar almost cried out loud with grief. He realized that his lungs were burning. Quickly, Hailstar swam up to the surface, his gaze misted with the grief of the loss of his son.

"Hailstar!" Echomist's muffled mew made him snap his head around. "W-where's Volekit?"

Hailstar's gaze dropped to the watery ground.

Echomist gasped, letting out a caterwaul of grief, which was muffled by her kit that rested in her jaws.

"We'll grieve after the flood," Hailstar snapped, ignoring the grief that threatened to tumble out of him in a single wail. "Get to the elders' den, now!"

Echomist nodded determinedly, racing toward the elders' den, which was untouched by the rising water.

Hailstar scanned the camp. Gleaming pelts darted in the pure darkness like a school of fish that had been discovered by a RiverClan cat. A ginger-and-white she-cat clung to the remains of the warriors' den, trying to patch it up with clumps of wet nettle. A stout tabby tom tried his best to block the foaming black channels of water where nests swirled out of the camp and into utter darkness.

The sky lit up with an icy-white flare as lightning crackled overhead, making Hailstar's pelt stand on end. Thunder crashed over and the wind hardened. A new wave of water surged through the camp.

"Shellheart!" Hailstar called frantically to his deputy. "What's your opinion?"

A dappled gray tom peered upriver from a beech among the reeds.

"The water's rising fast, Hailstar! Which means the elders' den won't be safe for much longer," the tom called back.

Hailstar lashed his tail, regretting the decision he was about to make.

"We'll have to abandon camp!" he called to the frantic cats.

"And lose everything our ancestors built for us? Never!" The ginger-and-white she-cat let go of her den and faced the RiverClan leader.

"We _must_, Brightsky! We have no other choice!" Hailstar wailed.

"Please, Hailstar!" Brightsky pleaded.

"We can always rebuild it!" Hailstar hissed.

"But... but it won't be the same!" Brightsky looked at him with a pleading gaze. Without waiting for an answer, she plunged into the darkness and clamped her paws around a floating nest.

Shellheart bounded toward his Clanmate, his pelt standing out in the everlasting darkness. "Together, we can rebuild anything! Except cats who have drowned trying to save bits of twig."

The elders' den began to bubble with blackened water and swayed the reed stems with it.

Hailstar stiffened.

"Get out!" he ordered.

Echomist slid through the entrance. Her two remaining kits followed her, looking like half-drowned mice. She stared at her mate. "Where should we go?"

"Head for high ground." Hailstar's answer was firm. He flicked his tail toward a tall hillside where the riverbank climbed toward a swath of trees and bushes.

An elder with tangled fur slid out of the elders' den. "I've never seen a storm like this."

A tabby-and-white she-cat followed. "Where are we going?" she rasped.

The tom stroked her spine with his tail. "Further island, Birdsong, where it's safe and we can rest."

Birdsong's eyes widened in disbelief. "Away from the river?"

"Just for now," Hailstar promised. "Come on, everyone."

"Why do we have to do this?" a cat wailed.

"What choice do we have?" mewed another.

"Wait!" Shellheart halted in the churning floodwater. "Where's Rainflower?"

"Here I am!" A pale-gray queen picked her way cautiously through the crowd of soaked cats. Her belly was swollen with unborn kits.

"Are you OK?" Shellheart asked his mate, sniffing her.

Rainflower let out a forced purr. "I'm fine," she croaked, frightened for her unborn kits' lives.

A small white she-cat wove around the queen, her eyes flashing. "She's been having pains."

Shellheart narrowed his eyes. "Are the kits coming, Brambleberry?" he asked, worry lighting his tone.

"I don't know yet," the medicine cat admitted.

Rainflower gazed up at the RiverClan deputy.

"Go and aid Hailstar," she meowed. "I'll be fine."

Shellheart blinked, unsure, at her, then turned away. "Rippleclaw?" he called.

"Here! No need to worry, old friend." A black-and-silver tabby tom was holding open a small gap in the reeds beside the elders' den while his Clanmates streamed through like the floodwater, heading for higher ground.

"Make sure every cat heads straight for the trees." Rippleclaw nodded at Shellheart's words, nudging a graying elder who dug his claws into the soft, damp earth, refusing to move.

"I'm not going without Duskwater!" the elder cried. "She went to use the dirtplace before the flood broke out, and she hasn't returned since!"

"We'll find her," Rippleclaw called over the wind. "Can you see her, Hailstar?"

Hailstar shook his head.

"The kits are coming," Rainflower announced.

"Right now?" Shellheart's mew was drenched in disbelief.

"The kits won't wait for the storm to be over," Brambleberry meowed. "Quick, get her up to higher ground immediately!"

"How about that oak tree?"

"Anywhere is fine, as long as its safe!"

As Shellheart ushered Rainflower up the slippery slope and Brambleberry followed, Hailstar searched the dens. Duskwater was nowhere to be seen. Hailstar shrugged. She was probably somewhere safe already. But the nagging thought that she was dead washed over Hailstar with realization. A dark shadow bobbed in the current, and Hailstar recognized the shape of Lilystem.

"No..." he breathed, but shook his head as he raced up to the oak tree where Rainflower was kitting.

"How many?" Hailstar asked Brambleberry.

"Two," mewed Brambleberry.

Hailstar heard the snaps and cracks of a long stick as Rainflower bit down hard on one. A small kit slithered out of Rainflower.

"Will she be OK?" Shellheart inquired.

Before Brambleberry had a chance to speak, Hailstar interrupted.

"I checked the medicine den for Duskwater," he mewed. "And noticed that all your herbs have been washed away."

Brambleberry closed her eyes, thinking of her deceased mentor, Milkfur, thinking what he might've done.

"One more," Brambleberry told Rainflower, washing away her thoughts with a quick shake of her head.

Another kit plopped out beside Rainflower as the exhausted queen breathed out a sigh of relief.

"I'll name this one Oakkit for the oak tree that protected us from the flood..." Rainflower meowed as Brightsky ran up to them. Water frothed around her paws. The flood had reached the tree.

"Any sign of Duskwater?" Hailstar demanded.

Brightsky shook her head, sighing.

"...and this one Stormkit for the storm that brought us here," Rainflower continued.

"Those are perfect names," Shellheart meowed, rubbing his muzzle against Rainflower's.

"Kits born into storms like these are destined to be great warriors," Shellheart commented to the queen with pride. "It's just a shame they can't both be leaders of RiverClan."


End file.
